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Updated 1:19 p.m. — A path toward resolving the impending the co-called fiscal cliff was suspended in limbo Friday following a dramatic defeat for House Speaker John Boehner, whose own rank-and-file members refused to support his backup plan Thursday night.
After conservatives balked at Boehner's "Plan B," which would have preserved current income tax rates for those making less than $1 million, the nation's top elected Republican shrugged off questions about whether his job was in danger. And as Washington prepares for a holiday break, Democrats and Republicans are further apart than ever on a plan to avoid the combination of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to take effect in just 11 days.
And the Ohio Republican emerged Friday urging President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats to re-engage in talks toward an overarching deal toward resolving the fiscal cliff, the combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts (which fall heavily upon the defense budget) set to take effect on Jan. 1.
"I'm interested in solving the major problems facing our country," Boehner said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "And that means House leaders, Senate leaders and the president are going to continue to have to work together to address those concerns."
With just 10 days until the nation goes over the so-called "fiscal cliff," lawmakers head home for the holidays. For the president, his stay in Hawaii will be a "working vacation." NBC's Kristen Welker reports.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., demanded that Boehner allow a Democratic proposal to extend tax rates for income under $250,000 to come up for a vote.
"There's nothing preventing the speaker from taking up our bill," Reid said Friday afternoon on the Senate floor. Boehner did say the House would "certainly take a look" at that bill, if the Senate manages to resolve a procedural holdup that would bar the House from considering the legislation. (Reid called that excuse "phony.")
But the speaker's task has become more vexing than ever; conservatives sent a powerful signal yesterday that they would not approve any tax increase, even on millionaires. Obama's demand that tax rates be allowed to rise for the wealthiest Americans amounts to a seemingly intractable standoff with House Republicans.
Boehner said that many lawmakers still prefer broad reforms to the tax code, but he acknowledged the difficulty in reaching any consensus: "How we get there? God only knows."
The president plans to work with Congress to prevent tax hikes and spending cuts that are expected to kick in on January 1 after House Republicans rejected a vote on House Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" legislation. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.
The speaker seemed unconcerned, though, about the prospects for an uprising from fellow Republicans.
"No, I am not," Boehner said when asked directly whether he should be concerned about his position. "If you do the right things every day for the right reasons, the right things will happen."
Republican leaders dismissed House lawmakers for the holiday weekend after pulling the vote on Thursday evening. Boehner said they would be recalled to Washington "as needed." The Democratic-controlled Senate is currently scheduled to reconvene next Thursday, Dec. 27.
"It's too bad Speaker Boehner wasted a week on this futile, political stunt," Reid said. "It's time for the speaker and all Republicans to return to the negotiating table."
The intervening time period might allow for Boehner and Obama to reach an agreement, though its final approval in the House would almost certainly involve the speaker turning to Democrats for votes. That would strengthen Obama's ability to insist upon tax rates, spending cuts and entitlement reforms that hew more closely to the plan on which he campaigned for much of this year.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Boehner has "done his part. He's bent over backwards." As an alternative, the top Senate Republican proposed extending tax rates for a full year with instructions to enact tax reform in the meanwhile. (Democrats rejected it out-of-hand.)
For their part, Republicans said they would look to Obama for action on a path forward.
"I don't want taxes to go up, Republicans don't want taxes to go up," Boehner said. "But we only run the House; Democrats continue to run Washington."
McConnell said: "It's the president's job — it's his job — to find a solution that can pass the Congress."
In the meanwhile, Boehner said he remained committed to working toward a deal, and said he was not interested in giving up his position as speaker.
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I have been reading everyone's comments. The overall conscensous is Washington has to fix whats broke. And I also see a lot of "the party blame game" on both sides. Its for this reason, I cant stand either party anymore. They are so self absorbed that they forget that they are Americans first and and their job is to protect the people. Not only through military but economically as well. I cant see how they can accomplish this when we have politicians who get paid regardless of their job performance, lobbyists that should all be thrown out of Washington, and earmarks that are thrown into the fine print on bills. I simply refuse to compromise some of my beliefs just to belong to a party. I would however compromise some of those beliefs to help my country get off its knees and stand straight again. The big picture. Drop the party crap, bar yourselves in a room and give and take. Its not that hard.
The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, 'merely a fool'. It is far less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their President.
Hahahaaaahaaaaaaa.
That election still stinging?
Sour grapes?
Get over it dude.
Your one I speak of son. Go play your video game.
*choke gasp*
Hey gringo...you Mexican?
You can't even put a sentence together....too funny!
Why don't you go to Home Depot...heard they be hiring!
yes, 7 years of no child left behind has done this to america, electing tea idiots into congress who speak of conservatism but don't know how to actually practice it or act with dignity or compromise.
Sequester has a Trillion in cuts to Defense.
Are they even going to be able to PAY the servicemembers?
Sell off the hardware to the highest bidder and send everyone home for good!
How many more unemployed will that make?
that 1 trillion is not even half in defense. Bah you people never read the entirety of any document do you? 281 billion is coming out of the military. A great deal is also coming out of medicare (have fun paying your insurance pimps even more you corporate whores) and medicaid as well as welfare and a few pet programs for both parties. It was supposed to hurt enough to make the gop finally compromise on 1 tiny thing and they can't even do that. They can't let the military get touched, so they're letting the military (along with everything else) get touched. shameful morons the lot of them. boehner should be publicly crucified.
SPENDING is the problem, yes over spending. In the beginning of the year we were borrowing 40 cents on every dollar we spent, now we are borrowing 46 cents on every dollar we spent.
Historicaly Low tax rates on Corps and individuals has absolutely nothing to do with this?
tell that to the loss in revenues caused by the bush recession in addition to having to pay for his messes and his bailout. You want to cut social programs? you want to raise taxes on a crippled middle class? You're a fool. You'd doom the economy to depression and retrograde until prices fell.
GOD only knows how long you can keep your job Mr. Speaker! This must be what they do in Ohio. If I performed my job like you I would not be working long. I have a clue for you.....just do what the PEOPLE tell you to do and forget all those other maggots that think that they have power. If you need balls to be a man to stand up for whats right, then go to Nancy's house and barrow hers! She uses hers to destroy this country.
Bingo. John Boehner is nothing more than a ball less puppet for the corporate greed that runs his crooked party. Its so obvious
This "Fiscal Cliff" stuff is BS anyway. Just let the bush tax cuts end. All this bickering for a measly what...a couple of percentage points?
Imagine if President Obama lowered himself even more to the right and reinstated the "Saintly Reagan" level taxes...that would cause a sh!tstorm. The "lord of the right" would be crucified by his own party today.
If you want to drown a middle class with already less than paltry spending power, you doom the economy to a depression and retrograde until prices get driven down.
Here's hoping we go off the cliff! Let it burn baby.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
tick tick tick. pop.
Do u understand how not getting a deal done affects the market and the whole worlds economy? Evidently not
I do. I hope they light a match to the whole deal.
against, you call for economic depression and retrograde. Do you not realize the economy cannot prosper without the middle class being able to buy things? If you tax what little disposable income they have away, you are dooming this country to depression, job loss due to demand crash and loss of need for production, and there goes what tax revenue you had. You idiots really need to realize the main problem. we need to move away from supply side economics like yesterday.
Now you're on to something. The middle class is important in the big picture. The tax picture. You can't spend the money the way we are spending it without taxing the ass out of them too. Just not enough money out there without them.
Ya think maybe that is what Obama wants? He certainly isn't keen on cuts is he?
Obama offered 1 trillion in cuts and the GOP turned up their collective partisan noses because 120 billion came out of the very bloated military, less than 9% of their budget (which, by CBO and Forbes estimates wastes 11% of their budget per annum on middlemen and frivolous expenses). the GOP can bend on this for once. Tax the rich, take the cuts on the table, and work out finer details right after christmas, but get this done before the middle class gets sorely hurt come tax season and the economy falls into retrograde!
Who needs Al Qaeda to destroy the USA? They can accomplish that horrible goal without lifting a finger, Republican/Tea Party axis will do it for them. Their despicable actions on gun control and tax protection for the rich are acts of disrespect for the 4500 killed troops in Iraq, 2000 in Afghanistan and 3000 civilians on 9/11. Why, they even didn't mention the war or troops in Afgh. during their convention in Tampa.
Start organizing to remove them from holding the House in 2014
What is the big deal? Pay more tax dollars with everyone and then we can all feel better about ourselves for helping future generations.
We know you trust the government adding more revenue. They have managed it so well in the past...LMAO
What happens when your boogeyman goes away???
Just like those South American dictators and middle east mullahs Obama NEEDS that boogeyman to keep his sheeple in line. Think about it.
Gene, except this doesn't help future generations. Going through with a middle class tax hike will throw the economy into retrograde (shrinking) because the middle class already has very low spending power to fuel the economy. Destroying that little bit of disposable income is highly irresponsible. and when demand drops, supply will slow, people will be laid off, and there goes your revenues, and great we're in a depression. Stop spouting ignorant garbage and learning economics 101 you useless piece of self-entitled american generation Y FILTH!
I agree. Let's raise taxes on everyone. Then, we all get to jump off together and we can stop all the class warfare crap.
Asking the wealthiest Americans who have done the best since the Bush tax cuts went into affect to pay a smidge more is hardly class warfare. You are listening to Limbaugh too much.
So you want to help the GOP hgurt the economy for another year? What a Gumby!
the economy depends on the middle class having money. the middle class currently has next to no disposable income. That makes for a poor economy.
Harry Reid telling anyone to do anything? Like that lying sack of crap has any credibility. He lied about Romney not paying taxes for 10 years as a purely political show and he is doing it again. This whole things is about crush the Republicans. Like when Obama won the first time. "I won" is his way or go away. Any one but an insane person knows that just raising taxes is not going to fix the big mess of buying votes and giveaways. We have to curb spending but no one wants it to happen to them or the things they want. If you were the head of a family you would say, "we have to cut back" but Obama and the Democrats want to go on spending more and more. The Republicans don't want to raise taxes. Both of you are idiots but Obama and the Democrats are just big political users. Divide the people, bait the races, divide socially, divide based on wealth. Obama did not get 100% of the vote. He did not get 75% of the vote. This is a badly divided country and he is working on more of the same.
This country is in deep doo doo and Obama and the other media playing politicians on both sides are to blame. All they care about is re election.
Going off the cliff gives the Democrats more tax revenue at the expense of the top 2%. Thet will get what they asked for so they should be thrilled.
gene, no, they aren't thrilled because the middle class will be sorely wounded and the economy will go into the retrograde (shrinking) phase because the middle class won't be able to buy products and fuel demand in need of more supply in need of more production for new hires. None of you idiots understands just how bad the cliff is or how bad boehner and the GOP have been acting. Tax increases on the middle class are the worst idea for the stage we are at right now.
A Lot of comments and talk....just no action......just like your Father.....Bin Laden.....Political Terrorists....Do nothing....Send everyone over the Cliff.....then they go on Vacation.....Do nothing yet Again! So why did the American Voters Vote for these Terrorists? Because they are stupid and bought the LIES! So you all (who voted for these GOP & Tea-Party Terrorists) have No One to Blame but yourself's! That's right....Stupid is as Stupid does"! So go shoot yourself's or your kids and put yourself's out of misery!
What insensitive? Buck OFF! You Voted this way!
Easy solution conservatives could get behind.
Cut off ALL medicaid/medicare.
Let all them darn freeloading takers just die off.
Bam, instant debt reduction...hell, we should be able to DOUBLE defense spending after that!
That is bull@!$%# that they take a holiday recess when they have something important to agree on and no time. Do they think that after the holiday everyone will miraculously agree? It really is a sideshow.
Reid's bunch left 3 days ago and worked on nothing so far. You would thinkj old Harry would call his house back to figure a solution, but Harry does not know how to send an e-mail or use a cell phone so they stay away until Christmas. Where is the outrage towards the Senate?
um, reid and the senate democrats are all still in washington. I've been watching the senate live feed all day.
"god only knows"
That is a better plan than anything else the buffoonery has suggested in the last 32 years.
I am an Independent, I listen to both sides and weigh my feelings. Left, right, center,...we all agree...we love our children, we have different views but we love our children...from gun people to tree hugging bunny lovers, we love our children. Lets work together for common sense.
that would involve the fringe of the democratic party and most of the GOP to be responsible. It's not going to happen.
Ignorant fool, Brian..........
My wife's parents and my parents hated their children and the burden it put on them........Don't be ignorant that our grandparents, who raised me, put the bar sky high and our parents but the bar in the dirt.
Wonder why this country is in the @!$%#ter?? I'LL give you 30 examples and I am trying to put the bar somewher in between.
You knuckleheads have the answer right in your posts.
"Why can't the rich pay a smidge more?" "A tiny bit?"
You'll get your "smidge" and "tiny bit". What is that, like 70 billion a year? That one Sandy bill that is packed with pork is 60 billion all by itself!! Our debt is way past 16 trillion. Adding 1.2 trillion per year.
Do you see the problem??? Do you understand how much a million is compared to a billion??? A billion to a trillion???
This is putting a new coat of paint on the Titanic AS ITS SINKING.
hedward, we're arguing for rich taxes to increase while middle class rates remain the same WHILE cuts are made. that cohesive message is somehow not being interpreted by the GOP propaganda machine. The middle class is what fuels the economy, directly hurting their spending power is foolish and boehner has yet to operate on that notion. If he would just accept the 1 trillion in cuts on the table and stop being so partisan about a tiny bit coming out of the military, we'd be done!
LOL!!!
Teapublicans think they're still relevant...
How amusing....
Have you all noticed that anyone who runs for president anymore has a huge income? It seems they trade common sense for money. They need to let someone run for president that has an education, and has been working his whole life. Someone that only made 40,000.00 a year. Then would we have these problems? Nope!
yes we would, you need those people making less than 400k a year to be in congress. You need economists, businessmen, physicists, engineers, statisticians, and the like in congress, not political science majors. This is such a perversion of what the founding fathers wanted. congress has been taken over by self-entitled morons on both sides of the aisle, although the GOP arrived much sooner, about 25 years sooner.
Whatever you do, John, don't start crying. Be a man, Boehner, and tell Obama to go f**k himself and take the country over the so-called fiscal cliff.
Grow some balls and a spine and stand on principle. You used to be a conservative, son start embracing fiscal and social conservatism. We have to stop all this frivolous spending and a billion dollar cut here and there over ten years doesn't amount to a hill of beans. We need trillions cut TODAY!!!!!
What Dumbo's doing is wrong for the country, but right for ghetto-trash union thugs and his stupid and moronic voters.
We need to go back to those Reagan tax rates on the wealthy...50%!
Start spending cuts at the TOP....Big Oil, Corporate Welfare and remove ALL deductions excepting charitable for the wealthy.
Then and ONLY then start working our way downward.
mephisto, we'll be going into economic retrograde because boehner couldn't be sensble about this. Taxing an already very weak middle class will destroy what hopes we had of growth. Our economy will shrink, jobs will be lost, and we'll beback in deficit spending all because the middle class won't be able to afford buying anything all because he was a partisan idiot who didn't take the 1 trillion in cuts that were on the table the first time. thank you so much boehner.
Dear America,
When you ran a Muslim Black/White, not born in this country, Chicago Politician for President against a War Vet and a Bat Crazy Alaskan, we vowed to make it our job to make that Socialist a one term President instead of doing your business like you elected us to, and just said No to everything.
So, Now we lost again because we ran another Bat Crazy Wealthy Mormon with a person who could have been qualified to run as President on our Ticket versus VP.
The hatred that we allowed d to breed when President Obama ran first term, in the way of those crazed Tea Party whack jobs, are driving us crazy. And now that we know that we really do need to work together with the President for the good of the country, we cant get those Koch Brother Norquist tea sippers to stop going bat ass crazy.
Well all I can say Is we are sorry, and realize that even though we have stalled and refused to work before, we now know that this party of ours is on its last gasp and unless we cut these radical hate mongers who don't care about anything but NO TAXES and NO COMPROMISE, We will all sink.
Sorry,
The GOP
Dear America,
We have pulled the wool over your eyes again. We will get our wish and taxes for everyone will rise on January 1, 2013. You people will spend your time blaming the GOP which was another part of our master plan. We want to steal from all of you so we can redistribute the wealth.
Don't worry about the deficit and our out of control spending. We know there will be a time everyone wakes up to our scam, but by then, we won't care because we will continie to get votes as we add more poor to the rolls.
We will be a country controlled by the poor and unemployed in 4 years, but again, we will get the votes because these people want their freebies and we will convince people that peope who work and acheive success are evil and those that are needy were thrown to the wolves by corporate america.
Our plan is working to perfection. Thank God we have some very dumb people in the US. God bless America, but especially those who understand how to work the system to never get a real job. Those with no brains who make our party strong.
Your Messiah,
Barrack Hussein Obama
Either of them would have been better that the Narcissist-in-Chief Obama and the bat-crazy, alzheimer's candidate Biden.
if obama's a narcissist you need a new word for romney it was narcissism on steroids. He was acting as though he'd won the election before the primaries were even half done.
The GOP still appear to be trying to make Obama a one term president....???????
Complete idiocy!
No McConnell is busy filibustering his own bills these days.
What a bunch of CLOWNS in the GOP these days!
Dubya did get one thing right ....... " BONER "
Lets see? What is the sticking point to these negotiations?
Protecting the wealthiest Americans and adhering to the Norquist pledge.
Lets keep it real folks.
"God only knows?" We didn't elect God, the founding fathers designed the system for you mediocre little men with big egos to do the job. Reagan would spit on your face.
Crash and burn I say.
Maybe then we can break the country up into left and right.
DEAL!
7 out of 10 taker states are red.
9 out of 10 richest states ( those who give to the fed more than they take ) are blue.
Let's DO THIS!